Lebanon anger grows as opposition politician assassinated
A bomb killed an anti-Syrian politician today in Beirut – the second such assassination in three weeks.
The killing of George Hawi, aged 67, has fuelled opposition fears that Damascus and its Lebanese allies are hitting their enemies in a bid to restore their fading authority.
Former Communist Party leader Hawi was killed by an explosion under his seat as he was being driven through west Beirut. It came as the anti-Syrian opposition was preparing to take power after winning a parliamentary majority in the staggered elections that ended on Sunday.
The assassination was condemned internationally as an attack on Lebanon’s quest to break free from Syrian domination after Damascus ended a 29-year military presence in the country in April.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she did not know who was responsible, but “there is a context and an atmosphere of instability” in Lebanon.
“Syria’s activities are a part of that context and that atmosphere, and they need to knock it off,” she told reporters in Brussels.
The US Embassy said the attack was not random: “This attack on an outspoken critic of Syria’s presence in Lebanon is once again an effort to silence Lebanese voices demanding freedom and sovereignty.”
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan “was appalled to learn of yet another assassination in Lebanon”, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. “The secretary general stands with the Lebanese today in their determination to shape a peaceful, independent and sovereign future.”
In Lebanon, opposition figures quickly blamed Syrian agents and their allies in the Lebanese security services for the assassination, as they did for the June 2 killing of anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir and the February 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Anti-Syrian politicians have circulated reports that Syria has drawn up a hit list in Lebanon. Syria has denied such reports, and it condemned Hawi’s killing.
“This shows the series of assassinations is continuing and the (Syrian-backed) security agencies are still at work,” said Samir Franjieh, an anti-Syrian politician.
Opposition leader Walid Jumblatt implicitly accused Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president and security agencies. Jumblatt said the agencies must be “completely purged”.
Another opposition leader, Saad Hariri, son of the murdered Rafik, said the bombing was “part of a series of assassinations targeting leading national personalities in Lebanon”.
President Emile Lahoud condemned the killing, and rejected opposition charges that he is directly responsible for the security services. He said he was blamed “seconds” after Hawi’s assassination in what seemed to be a “programmed” campaign. Lahoud is a former head of the armed forces.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: “We are stunned.” Blaming “conspirators”, the prime minister said that every time Lebanon takes a step forward, something happens to try to destabilise it.
The bomb that killed Hawi was detonated by remote control like the bomb that killed Kassir in his car nearly three weeks ago, Justice Minister Khaled Kabbani said at the blast scene. Police said it was made of less than one kilogram of plastic explosives.
Hawi’s step-son, Rafi Madoyan, blamed “the security system which is in power”. Speaking through tears, he warned that everybody in the opposition was a potential target.
The blast came as UN investigators questioned the pro-Syrian head of Lebanon’s Presidential Guards over the Hariri assassination.
Brigadier General Mustafa Hamdan is one of several pro-Syrian security chiefs accused by the opposition of involvement, or at least a cover-up, in Hariri’s slaying.
Hawi, a Greek Orthodox Christian, was once a strong Syria ally, but in recent years he frequently spoke out against Syrian intelligence and interference in Lebanese affairs.
Hawi was close to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war when his followers fought alongside Muslim and Palestinian militias against right-wing Christians and Israeli occupation forces. After the war, Hawi championed Christian-Muslim dialogue.
During its time in Lebanon, Syria filled the country’s security and intelligence agencies with its allies to enhance its control.
Although Syria withdrew its troops in April, and some Lebanese security chiefs have been replaced, many pro-Syrians remain in influential positions in the security apparatus.
Hawi is survived by his wife, Sossie Madoyan, and her son Rafi.
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